Revisiting the Heartlands

After 5 1/2 years in Singapore, I finally went back to the US during the holidays. It was wonderful to see my kids and grandkids again and I spent every available second with them. I went earlier than expected because my daughter had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Ouch! But she’s had all the nasty junk removed from her throat and it looks like she’s gonna be ok.

I was surprised how comfortable I felt in my hometown after so long. Some things had changed but some remain the same. I drove a car for the first time since I left in 2003 and, like riding a bicycle, it came back to me immediately.

I met a lot of my daughter’s friends who have supported her and helped her immensely during her illness and the moods that brought. I am profoundly grateful to all of them. I guess the only thing better than a home where people love you is two homes where they do.

Cher

I saw Sonny and Cher at the Civic Auditorium in San Jose way back in the year this song came out. Think it was 1965 when I was 16. The song was a hit but they were new and unknown. Along with Bobby Freeman (The Swim), they opened for Paul Revere and the Raiders that night. In this clip from that year, Cher is shy with her crooked teeth and funny nose and Sonny looks like a pauper right out of the Robin Hood days.

Of course after their divorce, Sonny went on to become the mayor of Palm Springs, and later died, and Cher went on to become a superb actress, superstar performer and deserving diva. This is my fav clip  of her after the transformation.

As Buffalo would say, life is sweet when you have entertainment like this.

The times they are a changin’

Obama is in, the murdering, traitorous criminal is out. McCain is trying to regain a little respect and Palin….god, what a joke….is really thinking she still has a chance after showing the world what a moron she is. Oh well.

I’m feeling a little bit of hope for the first time in a long time.

I’m turning 60 today. I really don’t want to spend anymore days or weeks or years talking here to a very limited few about politics and the world’s woes. I don’t enjoy it anymore.

Instead, I’m going to post what I like to post the most. Good old music. So if you’re looking for some commentary on the zealot, Mugabe or the latest nightmare in Iraq, you best go somewhere else. Here, I’m gonna stick to music. I know, it’s only rock n’ roll. But I like it.

I  also thought it might be fun to post a little memorabilia of those same days. Anyone remember what a 66 GTO sounded like?

I couldn’t afford anything like that so for a while anyway, I scooted around on one of these.

Yup, the Honda 50 Sport. Very popular. Remember when the Honda 250 was the baddest bike around?

I didn’t drive for nearly 3 years while in the army, but when I got home my very conservative father had bought one of these for me to tool around in. My mom told me later, it  was just for me.

It had the big  400 cc engine and looked just like this. On the stretch of Highway  17 straightaway coming down from Santa Cruz to Scotts Valley, I had it up to 140. I’m not a car nut, but that was special. Thanks, Dad.

There were lots of great cars back then to go with the great music. What was yours?

Who is that masked man?

A reuniting of The Byrds is, in itself a good thing. They close the concert with their first single, and the song that made them famous – Mr. Tambourine Man. During the first verse they are joined onstage by the song’s composer. Classic.

Oldies but Goodies – Sultans of Swing

I listened to a lot of versions of this before deciding on this one. Although Mark Knopfler doesn’t need it, Clapton playing backup tends to add another dimension to any tune. My question is, does rock and roll get any better than this?

Oldies but Goodies – CCR

So many great hits, so short a career. This is a group I wish would have stayed together. This song was my favorite.

Oldies but Goodies – Cream

Anyone who was a teen in the 60’s and involved in the music of those days will remember Cream and their two classic albums of that time, Fresh Cream and Disreali Gears. Here they reunited for a stint at the Royal Albert Hall. I do love it when the old rockers come back.

amen

Been a while..gonna be again

I’ve never been this remiss before about posting to this blog.  But alas, my excuse is good as I have been blogging elsewhere. That link will take you to the blog I set up at the school for foreign students where I teach.

Anyway, since I already heard the fat lady singing, there hasn’t been that much to talk about. Sure, the campaigns have continued. McBush is down double digits and like the ignoramous he is, he says he’s happy where he is. Palin has “gone rogue” in the words of some inside staffers. In other words, as might be predicted, the dingbat is out of control, gone completely crazy with the media frenzy that surrounds her, and will certainly do something so incredibly stupid that her political career will implode if it hasn’t already.

I’ve been especially amused by the various opinions expoused lately on what a “real American” is. It seems to be anyone who falls between Walter Brennen’s “Old Rivers” and Andy of Maybury. Somehow, those of us who are educated, professional, thinking adults have been excluded from the definition.

Bloggingdino was right in his (her?) critique of one of my earlier comments over at The Swash Zone. The American voter is not mind numbingly stupid as I overgeneralized. It is only approximately half of them that are. Well, in the case of this election, less than half and that number is deteriorating rapidly. In any case, the moronic ones are quite simply the Republicans, who, with all of their failures so blatantly exposed, continue to support not only their ridiculous “team” of McCain/Palin, but continue to preach – to an emptying room – that their way works the best! They are apparently absolutely blind to their own recent history!

Like so many others, I feel like I have been politically brutalized by the Republicans for so long that I find it nearly, if not completely impossible to be in any way optomistic of the future. Yet, with Obama in charge and a 60+% in congress, who knows. Maybe, like Michelle, I’ll get a renewed sense of pride and hope.

The Fat Lady is Singing

While the superstitious might hold back from saying it too soon, why wait? McCain has lost and lost big. It’s over and in the process he’s dragged a little known governor down with him. Life is sweet. Barring another 9-11 and a proclamation of martial law, and barring anything unforseen happening to Obama, we should be looking forward to a great new president. If we can expand the democratic presence in congress, hell, our future might even be bright.

So go home, John, and take that dingbat Palin with you.